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What’s the meta with us? Why do we waste so much of our precious time and spend so much of our political passion talking about talk and not our real problems? Why do we fight over which problem is the “real” problem and not engage the damn problems?

I’m heartsick that following the atrocity in Orlando the politicians and talking heads argue about what actually happened:

“It was terror attack. No, it was an Islamic terror attack. It was directed at us all. No, no. It was an act of homophobia. Alas no, it’s about guns and our inability to keep military grade weapons out of the hands of mad men. Ah, no, the real problem is the mad men. This is mental health issue.”

Any proposal to address any of these seemingly different subjects begets the angry response that it isn’t really about that; it’s about a different one. ENOUGH!

Orlando is about all of the above. Yes, it was terror directed at the United States in general and, in this instance, against the LGBTQ community. Yes it was rationalized as an act of Jihad–that’s why the perpetrator called to announce his affiliation with ISIS, having earlier claimed to be part of Hezbollah. Yes both ISIS and Hezbollah are ferociously anti-gay. This may explain the terrorist’s claim to be connected to both. So, yes again, his might have been an act of self-loathing that like many suicides by cop, sought a cover, a rationale, a meaning to his death. Yes, this means he had a mental health issue. And, being an American, of course he could get a hold of high-power guns with high capacity clips.

It’s also a problem that our intelligence people had the dots but even after two years couldn’t connect them. The FBI investigated him. They interviewed him at least twice and missed his web surfing of Jihadist sites and being friends with a suicide bomber. Also his two trips to our good ally Saudi Arabia didn’t count for much with our intelligence people. We don’t need more information or more dots. We need more human intelligence.

So yes, I understand that this is complicated but it is also interrelated. I understand that such complexity might make us freeze and do nothing. However, arguing about which factor or which failure should be our prime subject is an act of avoidance and a distraction.

TV commentators are arguing about Obama not using the term “Islamic violent extremism.” I believe he’s wrong not to use the term. The major acts of terror here and in Europe have been done by people who believed they were acting in the name of Islam–and who have been acknowledged by ISIS as acting in their name. For the president to say that he doesn’t want to libel all Muslims as terrorists is silly. In the same sentence he decried the violence of the Islamic State. Huh?

This is like saying that the Crusades were not done by Christians but “violent and deranged Knights Templar.” The Inquisition wasn’t perpetrated by Catholics but by some “overzealous Spaniards.” Most of us are sophisticated enough to understand that while the KKK and Aryan Brotherhood act in the name of Christianity, they don’t represent Christianity.

We are not at war with all of Islam but we are at war with the extremist Sunnis of ISIS and Al Qaeda, as well as the Shiite extremists of Hezbollah and the Al Mahdi Army.

Obama’s linguistic caution may be overzealous, but I do understand that we have a record of mixing up nationality and political loyalty. We didn’t distinguish very well our enemy Japan from our Japanese citizens and residents. We did persecute, but not imprison, some Italian and German “enemy aliens.” So there is some reason for caution. Yet I hate to spend precious time on a distraction–talking about how to talk.

There is no one thing we can do to make us totally safe. 911 wasn’t guns but box cutters. Still, our Founders never dreamed of AK47s and Uzis. We won’t solve all of our problems by trying to keep guns from dangerous people. Nor will mental health services and changes in the HIPPA laws alone make us safe. Remembering that only 15 years ago, homosexuality was listed as a medical psychiatric disease, we should be a little cautious in using the mental health model too easily. Certainly changing our words won’t protect us nor will banning or marginalizing Muslims be useful.

But everything we do to engage these issues is a step–a step beyond simply talking about how to talk. Our issues matter far too much to be rendered as merely meta.

Was NPR’s decision to sever ties with news analyst Juan Williams done in haste and without necessity? Yes. Does NPR have the right to decide who they employ based on their definition of analysis verse opinion? Probably. In the end, should such a large amount of focus be put on this particular issue? Not really.

Williams’ contract with NPR ended Wednesday, only two days from the time in which he said on the Fox News show “The O’Reilly Factor,” that seeing people in Muslim garb on planes makes him nervous.

The infringement of First Amendment rights is of the utmost importance and is a right that every American should fight for resiliently. However, Williams’ right to free speech wasn’t impeded. His comments were merely not in line with the values of NPR.

NPR president and CEO Vivian Schiller is quoted by CNN as saying, “There have been several instances over the years where Juan has strayed from that line and we have had discussions with him and we have asked him not to do it again. It’s not the first time, quite honestly.”

Williams has every right to be upset that his life has been turned upside down by his unexpected termination – anyone would. However, I’m not going to lose too much sleep over this one. And much like others who’ve “gone too far” with their public remarks, there always seems to be some employment guardian angel ready to swoop down and save the day. In this case, as the Los Angeles Times reported, Williams received a three-year contract worth nearly $2 million with Fox News, which includes appearances on the network and a FoxNews.com column.

I say, let’s focus on true freedom of speech issues. Or better yet, focus on the problems that face those who remain unemployed for more than a day.